Chapter 8. Who is Bernard Dubois?

When they reached Rosalyn's room, Rick locked the door behind them… he knew Rosalyn had said that this Bernard douche never came to the second floor, but… it made him feel a little more safe and relaxed to have it locked.

He turned to see Rosalyn moving to sit down on the end of her bed, her expression looked far away and sad… not that she had much to be happy about, but this was different from fear and terror she showed downstairs.

"Are you going to be okay?" Rick asked softly, approaching the beautiful young woman and taking one of her hands in his "I can't even begin to understand everything you've been going through here all alone for all this time… even if you were never aware of how much time had gone by…"

Swallowing hard as she gathered her courage, Rosalyn nodded and squeezed Rick's hand back… her heart felt heavy and sick, his touch was just like Ethan's… gentle and kind… but he claimed so adamantly that he was not her beloved Ethan… could she be mistaken? No… no, she knew she right, every moment spent in his presence called out to her like a sirensong… Rick was her Ethan come back to her, she was sure about that!

Right now though… didn't feel like the right time to press that particular subject… Bernard knew he was here and he'd trapped him inside the mansion… Rosalyn knew that if Bernard got his hands on him, he'd do more than kill him… something in her just knew, Bernard was planning something horrible…

"Tell me about this Bernard, seems like a monster of a fellow… who is he? Why is he here as well?" Rick asked her "I do not wish to overwhelm you, but we'll never solve this without all the facts laid out"

Rosalyn looked hesitant, almost as if she feared speaking of it would cause this Bernard person to come busting through the door… but she eventually gave a soft sigh and nodded "Yes… you are right… and I do so very much wish to be free of this nightmare…"

Rick gave her an encouraging smile, trying to reassure her "You are not doing this alone anymore, Rosalyn… trust in me, please…"

"Bernard is… or in light of new information… was, the son another noble family, he was attempting to court me… despite me telling him plainly that I had absolutely no interest in him and father adored yo- uh, Ethan… but that did not deter him, he just wouldn't stop pestering me… it eventually came to my father banning him from the house…" Rosalyn explained, her expression grew troubled and confused "I cannot remember too much about that night, when we were plunged into this god awful purgatory existence… there is a blank space there, like there was something there once, but now it's just… gone… just unexplainably gone… no one else can remember anything either…"

"Anyone else? Who else is, Rosalyn? I didn't see anyone else" Rick asked her, his brows furrowed in confusion.

"Most of the in house staff are still here, but they usually all hide when Bernard goes into one his psychotic rages… he becomes so violent, I'm sure you can understand how everyone would be terrified of him… I certainly am…" Rosalyn replied "Once Bernard exerts all his energy, he'll go quiet for a few hours and everyone will come out of hiding… and before you ask, no we do not know where he goes… the family butler, Leopold, has already tried to follow Bernard back to his hiding place, but he always manages to elude him"

"So Leopold doesn't hide?" Rick asked, wondering if perhaps he might be able to recruit this man to help him investigate… he could definitely use the help to unravel this complicated mystery.

"He does, but he will come out a little bit early than everyone else, just as Berard is beginning to tire… he believes that there is something here that is the key to everything, I agree with him, we both believe it has something to do with the voodoo…" Rosalyn replied, her expression looking thoughtful as she tried wrapping her brain about it all "Though for the life of us, we don't know what it is we're looking for or where Bernard could have stashed it… we imagine if it is the key to all this, Bernard won't make it easy to find"

"Hmmm" Rick hummed softly, his eyes narrowing as he tried recollecting anything he'd ever read about voodoo "If Bernard has become a poltergeist, maybe… maybe he's using a cornerstone of some kind or an anchor, to tie both himself and everyone here to the house… my question… is why would he want to do this? What could he possibly get out of this kind of existence?"

"I don't know…" Rosalyn murmured miserably "but I cannot take too much more… every day, I feel as though I am going mad… every day, he torments us, terrorizes us… every single day and night.."

"Together Rosalyn, we will stop him and we will set everyone in this nightmare free" Rick vowed, looking the beautiful brunette in the face, having never felt braver or more filled with purpose than ever before in his life "I don't how yet, but we will figure out… alright? We WILL get to the bottom of this and end it"

"Thank you, Rick…" Rosalyn whispered, smiling softly at the man wearing the face of her lost love "I must believe that we can do this if we are to succeed… and I do want to end this… I want to be free of this hell…"

"You will" Rick promised "Everyone will"